Frankfurt 13-15 May 2013

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Frankfurt 13-15 May 2013

After 20 hours of flying, including 1.5 hrs in Dubai, we arrived safely in Frankfurt. We said goodbye to Adam & Ange in Perth after spending 4 days with them. It was lovely spending Mother’s Day with Adam. The day was beautiful.

On arrival to Frankfurt, we were met by Kevin who we met on our African trip in 2012. He took us to Julia unit (his partner) where we were going to stay. Julia was away so it was lovely of them to offer her home to us. Kevin even bought us some supplies for breakfast and snacks. Wow, that is the German hospitality. We hope he and Julia can come to Australia so that we can return this hospitality. Kevin, Tom & I went to a little restaurant for dinner after which Kevin dropped us off. It took us about 30 seconds to go to sleep for over 10 hours. It was a great catch up sleep.

Next day we caught a tram into the CBD and caught the sights of Frankfurt. We saw a lot of restoration work being done as they are still restoring and updating the buildings from the war period.

Our impression of Frankfurt was of a mixture of new and old with some beautiful architecture. There are many walking malls and bike tracks, with a very efficient public transport system.

We met Kevin for lunch at his favourite breakfast place, next to the Kaiser Dom Cathedral which towers over Frankfurt‘s sky-line. I had the best caesar salad I have ever had, with mandarin and lime juice along with the usual. Our walking took us to the Tower building where we went up to the viewing deck to see the city. The Mainz River flows through the centre of the city.

In the evening, Kevin picked us up and we went to a traditional German restaurant where I had a beautiful chicken and large white asparagus with white sauce. Julia met us there too so it was a really good catchup, with a little bit of reminiscing of our African adventures together.

After dinner, Julia and Kevin took us to the Frankfurt University. Although it was at night, we could see the extent of the University. I think we will have to have a look at it during the day time when we come back to Frankfurt as it looked very impressive. We fly out of Frankfurt on 11 November.

The next morning, Julia met us and took us to Frankfurt Central train station. She was a real gem, helping us with the language, buying our train ticket to Utrecht, The Netherlands (Holland). After a coffee, we said our goodbyes and caught one of Germany’s quiet, smooth trains.

We travelled through part of the Rhine valley. It was beautiful with buildings and castles on the mountain slopes. Sheryl (my sister), Tom & I did a short boat cruise along the Rhine when we were here in 2002. We arrived in Utrecht, The Netherlands after 5 hours.

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